The poster was spotted on West Third Street in Hollywood this evening.
Thanks, guys.
flowers for Charles and Ray Eames
In a combination which this northerner found unlikely (and accordingly so very spectacular), these bougainvillea and morning glories were entwined on the side of the drive to the Charles Eames house in Pacific Palisades this afternoon.
[thanks to Mary Baine for the tip which made the trip possible]
the old Chung King Road
untitled (Chung King Road) 2004
The very pedestrian Chung King Road is the site of six or eight of the most exciting galleries in Los Angeles, but it’s also still part of Chinatown.
keeping it from the boyfriend
Overheard outside the stall in the avant/cool men’s room on the ground floor of the downtown L.A. Standard Hotel this evening: “Oh, he just left it there so his wife wouldn’t find it,” which was immediately followed by the addendum (from another voice), “Or his boyfriend!”
baggage carousel triptych
untitled (United baggage carousel, LAX) 2004
Obviously we had some time on our hands after disembarking in L.A. this evening.
Portland’s Sauvie Island
We drove around Sauvie Island this afternoon, just outside the city of Portland. These two photographs are of landscapes approximately two miles from the city limits, and only twelve miles fom the very center of town. They are totally representative of an island which has no gas stations and no visible commercial life outside of its pick-them-yourself farms.
Dreamy. Even Gerhard Richter would be impressed.
Actually, much of the island looks like the kind of arcadia which could have inspired Capability Brown. See Bloggy for more beautiful images.
Ben Franklin is avoiding Boston
In spite of all reported sightings to the contrary, Ben Franklin is not in Boston this week. Can’t say that I blame him.
This image was captured in downtown Portland yesterday. This city was founded by New Yorkers and New Englanders in the mid-nineteenth century, and it remains a very sensible and very liberal society, so maybe there’s some logic to Franklin’s visit (or move?).
While it looks like he’s now in a serious stretch from his sober sartorial habit (his Parisian friends would love it), he still wears the same glasses and he still seems to be interested in journalism.
Portland business lunch
five businessmen enjoy lunch together this afternoon en plein air, downtown Portland
A beautiful idyllic town, designed to please the biped who enjoys leisure, Portland nevertheless must be paid for. These men however don’t think the business has to be endured with hairshirts.
While they were having lunch at 12:30 in the afternoon, I was really enjoying the concept of leisure by making it brunch. The scene was the very pleasant French cafe, Carafe, on shady SW Market St.
busting Oregon, sorta
on the Oregon coast yesterday afternoon, just north of Otter Rock
We made it to the Pacific, but when we got there everbody was gone.
Actually, Barry and I are staying in Portland this week, where he’s attending a tech conference, and after that we’ll be in Los Angeles for a week. Yesterday was free, so we drove to the coast, much of the time through an almost abandoned wilderness, to stick our toes in the Pacific.
It’s a long drive for one day, so while we didn’t have much time to explore, the town of Newport looked like it would worth more than a detour.
We had a great lunch at the Chowder Bowl above Nye Beach: tiny shrimp in a thick clam chowder, followed by oysters and chips (clams and chips for Barry), the crustaceans all from local waters. Yes, they had good beer and wine, but most of the families sitting around us took a pass on the grownup stuff and finished quickly; they must have found the calories which fed their very ample American forms elsewise.
Another thought from a New York innocent abroad: This part of the world is very middle class and white, very clean and very civic. Why is it that away from the East Coast this country seems to be able to provide clean restrooms almost everywhere and such essentials as well-cared for parks or other public amenities, while in the Eastern cities you have to be a sneak or a sleuth to find a bathroom, and even a successful search will rarely uncover a clean, decent-sized facility? And in so far as parks are concerned (at least in New York City), unless you can get corporations to sponsor them, including their maintenance, your neighborhood is just out of luck.
As a nation are we able to provide for the public only if that public is perceived to be composed of a homogenous class and ethnicity?
Of course there are some parts of America which do have homogeneity, but still don’t think anything should be provided to the public. If you’re from such places, or visited them, you know where they are. Those are the areas from which most decent people flee as soon as they can – sometimes ending up in Oregon or New York.
the Arcangels’ cool summer art show
I couldn’t imagine it would come together so well. Hearing or reading about it ahead of time, the concept seemed mad. It is (and I mean that in the very best way), but its execution was absolutely brilliant.
Foxy Production announces The Infinite Fill Show, a group exhibition of dazzling black and white patterns, curated by brother and sister team Cory and Jamie Arcangel. The exhibition includes new and historical, readymade and handcrafted works in a range of media. The curators sent out an open call to artists for found or made objects which had to adhere to two basic rules: they must be black and white, and they must contain repeating patterns. The curatorial concept was inspired by MAC Paint, the 1984 software application with varied 16-bit monochrome patterning that could be picked and dropped into areas of the screen to denote color and depth. For Cory and Jamie Arcangel, this rudimentary precursor to Photoshop’s draw and paint functions provides a creative tool to explore multiple perspectives within a unifying aesthetic.
Last night black and white patterns contributed by more than 50 artists danced, inside my head in color and in more than three dimensions, throughout the hot little cool gallery on 27th Street.
Magic.